Coventry hospital trust passed immigrants’ details to the Home Office

Campaigners have blasted news that NHS Trusts are divulging confidential patient information so the Home Office can carry out immigration checks.

University Hospitals of Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust was among the organisations with an agreement allowing it to use the Immigration Enforcement Checking and Advice Service, whereby staff provide an instant immigration check on a patient.

Campaigners warned it means the Home Office is effectively being made aware of immigrants they can then take action against if found to be undocumented, and urged that the NHS “should not allow itself to be used as an arm of immigration enforcement.”

Figures released under Freedom of Information laws revealed that, as of April this year, 57 organisations had a Memorandum of Understanding with the Home Office to use the service.

Nearly all of these (51) were NHS Trusts.

The remaining six organisations were local authorities and housing associations.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is a formal agreement between two parties outlining a common line of action.

It is similar to a contract although it is not legally binding.

CoventryLive has contacted University Hospitals of Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust for a comment.

'Too scared to seek help'

The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said that, although the Trust pays to use the service, it means that patients’ details are effectively passed on the the Home Office.

Chai Patel, legal policy director, said: “As some NHS trusts seem to be handing over confidential patient information to the Home Office in order to carry out immigration checks, people in great need are too scared to seek medical help because they and their families face the risk of detention and deportation.

“The NHS should not allow itself to be used as an arm of immigration enforcement.

“Imagine having to choose between your child's health and the risk of being put behind bars, or being separated from them forever.

“We must create a complete firewall between the NHS and the Home Office and preserve doctor-patient confidentiality.

“Everyone in the UK should have equal access to the healthcare they need, no matter where they are from or what papers they can show.”

Home Office make thousands off calls

The checks take around eight minutes on average and are charged at 80p per minute.

There were 648 calls to the Service in 2016/17 (which only become operational in September of that year).

The Home Office earned £4,342 from these calls.

In 2017/18 the number of calls soared to 4,759 - netting the Home Office £23,620.

As of 20 November 2018/19 there had been 5,049 calls made, at a total cost of £17,183.

Government u-turn

Last year Margot James, minister for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, announced a government U-turn on the NHS sharing patients’ details with the Home Office to help it trace people breaking immigration rules.

The news came after MPs, doctors’ groups and health charities warned that the practice was scaring some patients from seeking NHS care for medical problems.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 had allowed for patients’ details - which had been provided confidentially to the NHS - to be used to help trace immigration offenders.

It led to the signing of an MoU between NHS Digital, the Home Office and the Department of Health. More than 3,000 patients had their details passed to the Home Office for immigration purposes in 2017, and 195 requests for data led to the Home Office finding out new information about people.

The JCWI said that the government u-turn did not prevent hospital Trusts from passing on immigrants’ details.

The Home Office has a designated enforcement team to track immigration offenders by focusing on three objectives.

The objectives are: preventing migrants from entering the UK illegally and overstaying, dealing with threats associated with immigration offending, and encouraging and enforcing the return of illegal migrants.

The figures revealed that eight complaints have been lodged about inaccurate information being provided.

The Home Office upheld half the complaints, dismissed two, and were still investigating the final two as of April.

The Home Office also offers a service where immigration officials can be placed within a local authority.

The official may provide immigration status checks and general immigration advice.

This is charged at £58.20 per hour.

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What did the Home Office say?

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Telephone Checking Service provides real-time immigration status information to partner organisations (primarily NHS Trusts) to help them make informed decisions about an individual’s chargeable status.

“In order to do so, partner organisations provide the Home Office with limited data such as name, nationality and date of birth to allow the Home Office to accurately identify the patient.

“The Home Office then confirms the individual’s immigration status with the partner organisation.

“No further information is shared by the partner organisation or the Home Office.”